


Not Homeless

by KaytiKitty



Series: TUA One-Shots [3]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Angst, Cussing, Five and Vanya care about their brother, Fluff and Angst, Homeless Klaus, Post-Apocalypse, Thunderstorms, hail, some blood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-05
Updated: 2019-05-05
Packaged: 2020-02-26 18:18:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18722386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KaytiKitty/pseuds/KaytiKitty
Summary: After the apocalypse the Hargreeves family splits up, leaving Klaus left on his own again. Homeless with an awful job and only his dead brother to keep him company Klaus finds himself stuck in the middle of a thunderstorm being pelted by hail. Luckily he has someone who cares about him this time.





	Not Homeless

Klaus is wrapped around himself, head ducked as far between his knees as he could get it, hands covering the back of his head. The hail pelted down against his skin like paintballs falling from the sky.  Ben was huddling next to him, mumbling comforting words to ease his brother's pain. 

  The hail wasn't even the worst of it. Not if Klaus really thought about it. He didn't think about it, of course he didn't, he didn't think of the temperature being in the negatives or that he hadn't ate in more than twenty-four hours. Instead he focused on the constant sting of hail leaving dark purple splotches along his skin. 

  Somewhere in him he knew he should probably go ask to stay with someone for the night. They had promised to get closer now that the world was saved and they all had kept to that promise, except him. He didn't have a place there. He was a homeless, ex-addict, lunatic. He was weak and pathetic. 

   Klaus pulled the faux fur jacket tighter around his balled up form, leaving his head exposed to the massive ice balls falling from the sky. God, he wanted to go home. He didn't have a home but he wanted to go to one. 

   He could show up at Vanya, Luther or Alison's apartment. He could go to Diego's gym. He could go back to the academy with Grace, Pogo, and Five. Thunder rang out across the world, echoing off the brick walls around him and suddenly he was back in the war. 

   “Klaus!” Ben shouted, trying desperately to pull his brother back. Ben had been with Klaus throughout his whole afterlife and he knew that this was not his brother's first time hiding in the fetal position waiting for it to pass. This time, though, it was different because each booming thunder could be compared to a gunshot and this alleyway felt much more like a battlefield than it should. 

   Klaus pulled himself back together as Ben shouted for him. “I-I-I'm good,” Klaus alerted his brother. “I'm here again, not that this is much better.” Ben laughed a little to loud and a little to long to be sincere but Klaus felt good anyway. 

    The hail was coming down with enough velocity that Klaus could feel the welts forming on impact and there was blood leaking from where skin had been repeatedly struck and split open. Klaus wished he had stayed with Five, at the academy, in his warm, safe bed, with Grace dotting on him like he was a kid. 

   Honestly if he wasn't afraid to uncover his head he would go there now. No matter what disappointment he would see in his sibling's eyes at his failed life. It's not like Klaus wasn't trying, Klaus was trying harder than ever actually. For the first time in his life he had a real job, as a waiter at the new Griddy's Doughnuts. For the first time he was sober and was controlling his powers, at least enough to be sane. 

    He was doing so well but he was still just as stuck and pathetic as before. The job brought in an average amount of money, not enough for rent and electricity but enough for rent at least. Well it would have been enough if Klaus wasn't seven thousand dollars deep in debt. He was paying it off though, actively trying to be a benefit to society. 

   Look how well it was working out for him. Sitting in an alleyway, mother nature's bullets branding his skin as if it were paper. Maybe Klaus could make it to a dumpster, get in a dumpster and close it. The hail would sound even more reminiscent of a war torn field but at least it wouldn't feel like it. 

   Klaus wanted to look up bit he was to scared that an unfortunate piece of hail would strike his face or his eyes and he would be seriously injured. “Ben?” He asked softly. His voice wouldn't have been audible to anyone else, drowned out by the demanding rumble of thunder or the angry crack of ice striking the ground. “Is there a dumpster around here?” 

   There was silence for a few seconds. “Yeah, about four feet to your right,” Ben answered. Klaus felt like it took forever. Klaus took a few deep breaths. He would have to make a break for it, he couldn't sit here any longer and feel his back split open. 

    “Klaus!” The voice was screaming from far away. Klaus clenched his teeth, now was not the time for the ghosts to come back. “Klaus!” The concerned voice screamed out again. 

    “Holy shit!” Ben exclaimed. Klaus jumped at the noise and his back felt like he had tugged it open to expose a million crimson puzzle pieces. He hissed. “What is she doing here?” 

    “Klaus!” The voice came again. Klaus almost looked comical with his eyes widened, mouth opened, head hanging between his knees. Because he knew that voice and why the hell was she out here? Ben was certainly right about that. 

    “Vanya!” Klaus called and titled his head up, one hand covering his eyes. The small figure appeared at the entrance to the alleyway, a thick blanket wrapped around her like a cloak, like padding from the ice pellets raining down on her. 

    “Five! Five I found him!” Vanya called out, relief filling her tone. Her voice was so soft against the thunder that Klaus was tempted to ask her to sing. Maybe once she was out of this painful mess and she was somewhere warm he would ask her to. “Klaus, are you okay?” 

    She moved to take the blanket off and put it around him but he stopped her. “Do not take that blanket off,” Klaus tried to play the slight hiss of pain off as a commanding noise. 

   Suddenly he heard more footsteps and Five appeared from around the corner, he was also wrapped in a blanket that covered his head. All Klaus could think was that they were lucky bastards. 

    “Holy shit!” Five exclaimed, not unlike Ben. “You look awful, can't believe I have to come out here and save your ass from a storm.” 

    Five stuck a hand out of his blanket fortress. Vanya grabbed onto his wrist, Klaus hesitantly grabbed onto his hand. Ben let his hand hover over Klaus’ shoulder. Then there was a shifting sensation that made Klaus scream and they were back in the living room.

   Grace rushed to their sides. She ignored Vanya and Five as they took the blankets off to reveal bruises among their faces and shoulders. Klaus wanted to yell at Grace to go help them, that he was fine, that he had been out through worse. Before he could say any of that Grace and Vanya were both kneeling by him and fussing about him. Five had left the room. 

   The only thing Klaus could focus on was that Five had left the room. His brother had used his powers to come to his aid, probably at Vanya's request,  and he had sounded so annoyed when he arrived. Five was definitely mad at him, pissed probably. The little ball of murder was planning the best ways to torture him at this moment, most likely. 

    He clenched his teeth as Grace worked on his skin, wiping blood away from the welts before gently putting a cream on them. Vanya was running her fingers through her hair, telling them it was okay. “It's kind of cute that they care for you,” Ben said. Klaus grimaced. 

    “Shut the hell up Ben,” Klaus said. Vanya giggled and murmured a hi to her dead brother. Ben seemed more than happy to be acknowledged and if Klaus was feeling better he would have had to play translator for longer than his patience could handle. 

   Then Five came back and Klaus was expecting to be screamed at but instead Five set down a mug next to him. It was tea, a herbal tea most likely since both Klaus and Five enjoyed them. “Why were you sitting outside during a hail storm, idiot?” Five didn't sound harsh, he sounded as if he was actually, genuinely confused as to why Klaus was sitting outside. 

   “Where was I supposed to go?” Klaus sounded harsh. That was a change for him but he was upset at the moment. He had a right to be. 

  Five scowled. “If you were homeless why didn't you come stay with me you stupid boy? Do you know how lucky you are that I checked your tracker before going to sleep? How lucky that Vanya was here to help me find you?” 

   Klaus did even know where to begin to process his words. So he decided to the most Klaus-like option of, “You had a tracker on me?” 

    Five let out a short chuckle at that. “I have one on all of you idiots, although yours was in here so it didn't help much,” Five complained holding up the wallet that was meant to be in Klaus’ pocket. 

     Klaus briefly remembered when the thunder started he had jumped and he swore something fell but he was to out of it to care. He is so lucky Five found his wallet, not for the tracker but for the money inside the cheap leather substitute. 

    “I don't know why you're freaking out, it's not like this is new. I was homeless for years remember?” Klaus decides to be blunt as he reaches for his wallet. Five snatches it away and Klaus looks up to his face to express his annoyance but he freezes. 

    Five looks downright terrifying. “You are staying here. In your room. Until you have your own place.” 

    Klaus rolls his eyes. He can practically hear Vanya's pitying look and taste Grace's permanently plastic smile from behind him. “I have my own place. Nice little place over off Amo Avenue, metal walls, real cozy. No ladder to get in but climbing is good exercise. It's got a fresh coat of diarrhea green paint to, real luxurious.” Klaus had dropped all hints of vulnerability from his tone as he described the dumpster to his siblings. 

    Five didn't look amused whatsoever. “Number Four, I will tie you to the fucking bed by every single limb and force you to be comfortable if you don't shut the hell up and agree with me.” 

    The look on Five's face said it all. And Klaus agreed, he knew better than to argue from that point on.


End file.
